Raising the Age of Juvenile Court Jurisdiction

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission (the Commission) serves as the federally mandated State Advisory Group to the Governor, General Assembly and the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) in developing, reviewing, and approving the State's juvenile justice plan for the expenditure of funds granted to Illinois by the United States Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). The Commission members include:

Rodney Ahitow, Cuba

Julie Biehl, Chicago

Arthur D. Bishop, Maywood

Jacqueline Bullard, Decatur

Shelley Davis, Chicago

Demarco Diggs, Chicago

Veronica Dixon, Decatur

Esther Franco-Payne, Chicago

Eugene Griffin, Skokie

George Hill, Forsyth

Toni Irving, Chicago

Arnetra Jackson, Chicago

Lisa Jacobs, Wheaton

Patrick Nelson, Chicago

Edward Rangel, Chicago

Pamela F. Rodriguez, Elk Grove Village

Michael Rodriguez, Chicago

Ben Roe, Rochelle

Wayne Straza, Countryside

Randell Strickland, Chicago

Chairperson: Judge George Timberlake, Mount Vernon

Rick Velasquez, Oak Park

Ethan Viets-Van Lear, Chicago

Dana Weiner, Chicago

The Commission gratefully acknowledges Stephanie Kollmann, the research author of this report.

In addition, the Commission acknowledges the tremendous work of Northwestern University School of Law clinic students and interns, including Stephen Bychowski, Jane Ehinger, Julie Lee, Dan McElroy, Brendan Mooney, and Camille Provencal-Dayle. The Commission sincerely thanks the many state, county and local agencies that shared the data and opinions that inform this report.

[D]ifferences between juveniles under 18 and adults demonstrate that juvenile offenders cannot with reliability be classified among the worst offenders. . . . The Thompson plurality recognized the import of these characteristics with respect to juveniles under 16. The same reasoning applies to all juvenile offenders under 18. Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 553 (2005) (internal citations omitted) (emphasis added)

[It is] not exactly an equal protection issue, but it's still weird to me, that if the basis for changing [Illinois] law was the development of the juvenile brain . . . [it] doesn't make any sense [to say a 17-year-old has and] mens rea for residential burglary but not for theft. Nonsensical. Prosecutor interview